Despite the schoolboy snicker type hype that ITV was attempting to hoist upon the shoulder’s of the Brits with its return to live broadcast status last night the controversy which has previously dogged the show and amused the viewers was last night conspicuously absent. Going out before the watershed I pondered might have been something of a precarious proposition.

Yet in the end the show was surprisingly toothless in execution. The Scissor Sisters opened with a typically slick performance while Amy Winehouse might have taken a while to warm up (and fix that hair) but she performed well. Snow Patrol walked through their performance with eyes wide shut. In terms of winners it was alas something of a predictability fest.

That’s not to say the winners weren’t deserving its just that in many cases the same old faces were reappearing and it seems that we might be looking at Muse getting the gong for Best Live Act for the next twenty years at this rate. It was interesting to see Oasis receive their outstanding contribution to music award and also see Jarvis Cocker up for nomination a decade on from the heady days of Britpop. Of course back then The Brits were the staging post for many an infamous moment (notably the Jacko arse wiggling incident). However it was odd to see the once young upstarts now settling into their role as elder statesmen of popular music.

Oasis were the closers of the show and while Liam might have been straining like he was busting a gut (he really can do better) the band were very tight, marking this as something of a mixed performance for them. Speaking of old men Take That were the golden boys (or should that be Golden Oldies). There was something disconcerting about seeing them back on stage looking for the most part rather crumpled and shall we say slightly past it. Still the single I have to say was respectable if you like that kind of thing, but I maintain they won mainly on a knee jerk shock factor because nobody expected them to come back.

In terms of presenting Russell Brand was by no means the worst they’ve had but on more than one occasion his humour sailed wide of the mark as illustrated with the stony faces the camera panned to in the audience, and if anything his usual unflappable confidence seemed conspicuous by its absence. So folks, that was The Brits for this year. They huffed and puffed but didn’t quite blow the house down,

Here’s the winners

* British Male Solo Artist James Morrison
* British Female Solo Artist Amy Winehouse
* British Group Arctic Monkeys
* MasterCard British Album Arctic Monkeys
“Whatever people say I am, that’s what I’m not”
* British Single Take That “Patience”
* British Breakthrough Act Fratellis
* British Live Act Muse
* International Male Solo Artist Justin Timberlake
* International Female Solo Artist Nelly Furtado
* International Group The Killers
* International Album Killers “Sam’s Town”
* International Breakthrough Act Orson
* Outstanding Contribution to Music Oasis